Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

[gtochris]

:facepalm:

We have gone out 2 evenings in a row this week and I'm beginning to think it is the most dangerous time to go boating.

Poor navigation/ no navigation lights, I see one boat coming at me with only a red and white light, (missing cover for the green), another go-fast with only a green/ no red or pole lamp, people racing well past sunset, Towing TUBERS untill 9PM! (how are you going to see when the guy fall off/ find him again?) We anchored deep in a cove so no one would go around us and left the pole (anchor) light on while we went for a swim, I couldnt enjoy myself with everyone still ripping by and visions of getting run down We idled back to our dock at 9:30pm with one guy passing me on plane... where we dock is about 3/4 of a mile into a no wake zone, I guess someone either moved the one no-wake zone bouy or it "drifted" conveniently a mile up the cove- but some guy blew by us in a Chap with his music blasting and drunkin passengers hanging off his boat... all the boats in this normally protected cove are yanking on their lines... Just because the bouy isnt in place doesnt make it acceptable to blow through a no-wake zone especially at night!

Are people just super tanked by 8-9PM? It's situations like the above that really just turn me off and disgust me to my fellow boaters, the respect shown for the waterway and others.

I'm 28, I've only accomplished the required NJ certificate and hope to learn more as I get time however I've been boating since 5 and my dad taught me well. I drink on the boat occasionally but never allow myself to have too much and put the safety of my passengers first and treat out waterway as a privilage.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

Yup boating in the evening is a tough one. Many fools and idiots out there.

You just have to be more careful and have your awareness skills at their peak.

Karma tends to catch up with the fools!

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

Boating at night is very dagerous for all the reasons the OP points out. It is also easier to hit things (buoys, rocks, sandbars...) due to the reduced visibility. I expect Bob is right about karma, but it is tragic.

On a more positive note, most folks here in NJ now do understand and follow the rules of the road, as taught by the NJ Safe boating course. Chris may be too young to remember when no one knew anything about the rules of boating. We were dodging potential collisions all the time. Folks had no idea what a double triangle channel marker meant. There was no understanding of burdened or priviledged vessels. Biggest boat went where it wanted, everyone else better get out of the way.

Of course the invention of the jet ski, and it's quick rise to the top of the accident list, was the reason for the NJ Boating course requirement.

Things are better now, at least in the day time, especially on days other than 4th of July....

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

Of course the invention of the jet ski, and it's quick rise to the top of the accident list, was the reason for the NJ Boating course requirement.

Might want to check that one... There have been 2 studies done so far, one by the Red cross, one by the USCG. Both of them showed that PWC accidents are absolutely in line with the accident rates of other boats. PWC boaters, per the number of pwc's, do not have more accidents than any other type of power boat.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

There's a lot to be said for a 1 mil. (or stronger) candle power spot light when boating in the dark.

You can see where you're going.You can see boats without the proper nav lights and any other obstacles.

Other boats can see you very well!


I consider it a safety tool and I won't boat in the dark without one.

 

[bgc]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

My .02,
People are amazing, such little regard for others.
Perhaps its just me but I'm not in a hurry and I don't need to show off how fast the boat will go and I don't drink on the water.
A local man killed his brother last year when he struck another boat sending the guy through the windscreen.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

In any circumstance, night boating is a high-risk activity that requires skill, competence (which includes sobriety) and hyper-vigilence. Sadly, those of us who know this will be killed by those who don't. It's just not worth it to go where the boating population is dangerous, any more than you'd take your 17' bass boat to open sea in a small craft warning in the day time.

A lot depends on where you are, and the skills of the majority of the other boaters (keeping in mind that it only takes one unskilled/incompetent boater to do you in). It also depends a lot on the waterway and its conditions.
When I'm boating at night in town, it is usually in the harbor, where the other recreational boaters, usually fishermen or large boats, are generally pretty good. We have to contend with ships, tugs, barges, crab pots, poorly lit dredge equipment, and lots of lights on shore that obscure bouy and nav lights, so it isn't easy.

upriver, however, it is drunk rednecks on go-fasts, unskilled "day boaters" narrow waters, hazards. I don't go there.

The other place I boat at night is a deserted coastal marsh, no lights, narrow creeks and open shallow bays, mud flats and sand bars, extreme tides and no one to call for help, which presents its own challenges (dangers). Almost all boaters there are skilled, including watermen. However, many do not use nav lights (due to it killing essential night vision) and it's too easy to assume, incorrectly and perhaps fatally, that no one else is there. I cross at night advisedly, but I have to go in the dark to and from hunting.

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

There's a lot to be said for a 1 mil. (or stronger) candle power spot light when boating in the dark.

You can see where you're going.You can see boats without the proper nav lights and any other obstacles.

Other boats can see you very well!


I consider it a safety tool and I won't boat in the dark without one.

As long as you aren't keeping it on all the time and using it like a "boating headlight" I'd agree with you. Otherwise the spotlight is just blowing away everybody's (and your) night vision. I can see just fine at night on the water and only use the spot occasionally. I get mighty cranky when somebody shines a 2 million candle power spot in my face at night.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

There's a lot to be said for a 1 mil. (or stronger) candle power spot light when boating in the dark.

You can see where you're going.You can see boats without the proper nav lights and any other obstacles.

Other boats can see you very well!


I consider it a safety tool and I won't boat in the dark without one.

Spot Lights are a good way to get a sinker or something worst hurled at your boat.

 

[JoLin]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

There's a lot to be said for a 1 mil. (or stronger) candle power spot light when boating in the dark.

If you're using that light for extended periods of time (like more than a few seconds at a time) when running, you are violating the law and posing a danger to other boaters whose night vision you destroy. Spotlights are to be used sparingly to identify channel markers and navigation hazards, not as a headlight.

My .02

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

Our village has or had 2 patrol boats yet I can never recall ever seeing them on the water after 7pm. Yet I could walk down to the water any night of the week and see boaters still pulling skiers and tubes well after sunset which is supposed to be "No Wake". I would think that patroling even just a couple of random nights each week would end this nonsense. But as of yet it doesn't happen. Guess it's going to take someone getting killed so the TV News shows up before it will change.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

As long as you aren't keeping it on all the time and using it like a "boating headlight" I'd agree with you. Otherwise the spotlight is just blowing away everybody's (and your) night vision. I can see just fine at night on the water and only use the spot occasionally. I get mighty cranky when somebody shines a 2 million candle power spot in my face at night.

Spot Lights are a good way to get a sinker or something worst hurled at your boat.

If you're using that light for extended periods of time (like more than a few seconds at a time) when running, you are violating the law and posing a danger to other boaters whose night vision you destroy. Spotlights are to be used sparingly to identify channel markers and navigation hazards, not as a headlight.

My .02

It's a hand help spot and I don't use it constantly nor do I shine it in peoples eyes. I mainly use it to scope out the water ahead of me for debris or if I hear someone in a boat without the proper nav lights. If I hear someone motoring toward me at a high rate of speed I'll shine it in the air or on the bank to let them know I'm there in case they don't see my nav lights. We've got knucklehead bass tourny guys that fish night tourneys and run wide open on our lake and usually have their eyes glued to the GPS instead of where they're going in front of them. The canned air horn also comes in handy for them.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

The GPS has created a problem in that regard; boaters focus on them running at night and forget they aren't a radar. I just had this conversation with a harbor pilot friend.

 

[relocyo]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

Just yesterday I was doing some shore fishing (we landed 2 nice 22" redfish ) and witnessed right at sundown a bowrider towing 2 kids on a tube in the middle of the channel, with a hard charging fundeck maybe 25 yards behind the tube I watched until the boats dissapeared ready to call in the meat wagon if those kids fell off. I mean how stupid do you have to be? Blows my mind sometimes...

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

Just so you know, PWCs accounted for 46% of the accidents in NJ, eventhough they were less than 10% of the registered vesels. I would expect the injuries would have been much worse due to the higher speed of the PWCs and the small amount of protection they give the rider. That is when the State Gov't acted to require what was essentually the standard CG Auxillary Safe Boating Course, followed by a test, first for all PWC users then young boaters and then finally for all boaters.

Since the test was required the number of idiot PWC riders that I see, has declined significantly (hopefully not because of death). Most PWC riders drive nearly as safe as your average boater....

 

[zopperman]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

In lake hopatcong?!
Can't wait to finish my resto and take her out there.. Will definitely keep this in mind
Glad i wired up those nav lights!

 

[lazyfish]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

The fact is there is a bunch of nuts on the lakes in anyplace inthe country.the best way I have found to be safe is to pay attention to everysingle boat pwc or anything else floating.Keep the lights on my boatAswell motor around at a safe speed.And wear life jackets.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

In lake hopatcong?!
Can't wait to finish my resto and take her out there.. Will definitely keep this in mind
Glad i wired up those nav lights!

Do yourself a favor, and don't go there. I've been there twice this year, and it was a zoo both times. Totally out of control boaters left and right.

Regarding the spot light, I now have two 1 mill + CP lights. One is rechargeable, the newest one is only corded. Last year I added two aux outlets to the dash just for the purpose of having a corded spotlight. I've been out on the water at night a few times. Kind of freaky at first, but out on the bay, there were no other boats around. The spot lights come in handy pulling into the marina and launch.

 

[zopperman]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

that's really awful.
I'll stick with the hackensack by me then!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Fellow Boaters in the Evening...

There's a lot to be said for a 1 mil. (or stronger) candle power spot light when boating in the dark.

You can see where you're going.You can see boats without the proper nav lights and any other obstacles.

Other boats can see you very well!


I consider it a safety tool and I won't boat in the dark without one.

Other boats cannot see you very well since the helmsman is blinded by 1 million candle power. In a busy traffic lane you have no business operating that light.